Belonging
|ratings = 0.8/3 |IGN = 8.1/10 |AV Club = A}} "Belonging" is the fourth episode of the second season of Dollhouse and the 17th episode overall. It was written by Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon and directed by Jonathan Frakes. It aired on October 23, 2009. Premise Sierra is forced to face her past as her connection to the Rossum Corporation leads to obsession and murder. Plot The episode opens with a blurry shot of Topher, his face bloody, muttering about how he was "only trying to help her." One year earlier, Priya Tsetsang is selling her artwork at a booth on the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Nolan comes up and buys a piece from her, clearly something he's done before. He asks Priya to create a larger, commissioned piece for him, suggesting he might even set a show up for her. An undetermined amount of time later, Priya has created a painting for him and is attending the opening party at Nolan's flat. It's overrun with shallow, rich types, and is clearly not Priya's scene. It turns out, the party is thrown by Rossum, and many (all?) of the guests are dolls imprinted to talk Nolan up. Priya runs into Echo, who has been imprinted as a charming young attendee. Victor is also there, as an Italian art dealer (name of Luca Pallidio), and though he is programmed to further Nolan's advances, Victor is drawn to Priya and ends up inadvertently seducing her. They try to leave the party together and are intercepted by Nolan on the way. As Victor's handler quickly leads him away for a treatment, Nolan confronts Priya desperately trying to win her, but she refuses, screaming, "Nothing in this world could make me love you!" One year later, Priya is Sierra, leaving Nolan's flat after an engagement with a kiss, telling him she loves him. Back at the house, Echo encourages Topher to dig around and he uncovers the truth behind Priya’s circumstances. Topher had met her a year earlier; she was institutionalized, a hopeless paranoid schizophrenic. And a perfect candidate to be the next Sierra. But a closer look at her original scans proves she was a healthy girl being poisoned, and go figure, her acting physician was Dr. Nolan Kinnard. He has also found out that when Sierra underwent Saunders' wish fulfilment exercise she went to confront Nolan. He runs the story by Boyd, and they wonder whether or not Adelle is aware. She walks in on them, and clearly had no idea. Adelle DeWitt “flips her biscuits”, immediately calling Nolan in to confront him. She is seething but veils it well. Adelle attempts to ban Nolan from the house. He demands to have Sierra imprinted and sent to him permanently. Mr. Harding meets with Adelle, and sides with Nolan, claiming he is an asset to the company. Adelle protests on Sierra's behalf, but Mr. Harding reveals he knows of her tryst with Victor. In fact, he doesn't even care, as everyone “likes to take something home from the office once in awhile.” Mr. Harding vaguely cites more serious indiscretions Adelle has committed, and she backs down. The order is to imprint Sierra and send her to Nolan forever. Meanwhile, Sierra follows Victor into the showers where he is disposing of all the black paint. She thanks him and touches his face, getting a little paint on it. They laugh and begin to paint each other's faces, enjoying the game, when seeing the paint on Sierra's face triggers a flashback for Victor. He sees a panick-stricken, screaming soldier, and the trauma causes his knees to buckle and he and Sierra fall to the ground. She comforts him while he whispers "I don't want to take charge. I don't want to take charge." Back in her office, Adelle is giving Topher the order from Rossum. She's obviously affected, pouring herself neat whisky and being quite harsh with Topher. He does his best to refuse, but she shoots down every argument. Adelle explains that all of the Dollhouse employees are morally compromised, with the exception of Topher who was recruited due to his complete lack of morals. She tells him to let Sierra go. Topher restores Priya, and sends her off to confront Nolan. Nolan expects his new obedient wife, but when Priya reveals herself, the two argue. It quickly escalates, growing violent and Priya stabs Nolan four times, killing him. She calls Topher for help, though all he can think to do is run. Having heard the outgoing call, Boyd shows up and completely takes care of the situation. He orders Priya to pack Nolan's things so they can stage an attempt to flee the country. Boyd has Topher dissect the body and dissolve it in sulfuric acid. Topher says he was only trying to help Priya, as she doesn't belong in the dollhouse. Boyd insists she does now, considering she's been abused and has taken the life of a man. Boyd calls Adelle to inform her of Nolan's "vacation". She's sitting at her desk, barefoot with an empty glass in hand. Adelle takes this news without a flinch, doesn't inquire further, and seems happy that Sierra is back in the house, but acknowledges the fact that no thanks are due to her. In the office outside the imprinting room, Topher tries to comfort Priya, and answer her questions but he isn't much help. Priya decides she can't live with her actions and agrees to be wiped. Now Sierra again, she goes to meet Victor and the two lie together in one of the pods, with Echo reading a book near them, watching over. Cast Main cast *Eliza Dushku as Echo *Harry Lennix as Boyd Langton *Fran Kranz as Topher Brink *Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Ballard (credit only) *Enver Gjokaj as Victor/Anthony Ceccoli *Dichen Lachman as Sierra/Priya Tsetsang *and Olivia Williams as Adelle DeWitt Recurring roles *Keith Carradine as Matthew Harding *Vincent Ventresca as Nolan Kinnard Guest starring *Clyde Kusatsu as Dr. Makido *Carlease Burke as Pam *Mike Cochrane Background Information Production Principal photography went from August 25 to September 3, 2009. Reception Critics Ratings "Belonging" reached 2.15 million viewers, a 1.3/2 Rating/Share, a 0.8/3 Rating/Share in the 18-49 demographic and a 0.9/3 Rating/Share in the 25-54 demographic. The episode received a 1.3 Live+7 Rating/Share in the 18-49 demo, which is a 57% past airdate demo increase via DVR (that's the biggest percentage increase for broadcast TV shows of that week). 36% of all demo viewing happened past airdate via DVR, that's the biggest percentage for broadcast TV shows of that week. Trivia *This is the first and only episode to share the same title from another Joss Whedon show. An episode of Angel is also called "Belonging".There is, however, already an issue of the canonical Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 (#24: "Safe") that shares the title with an episode of Firefly. *Agent Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett) does not appear in this episode. *Keith Carradine is billed as a Special Guest Star. *Judging by DeWitt's reaction, "termination" likely isn't a simple losing of her job, but possibly her life, or her freedom by being sent into the Attic. *Written on the glass of Echo's chamber: * When a screener copy of "Belonging" and "The Public Eye" was sent out to TV critics in October 2009, the following letter from Joss Whedon was attached to it: Quotes Music * Just as they did with 1x13 "Epitaph One", writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen wrote a song for this episode too: "Drones". This time Jed sings, and it's heard in the middle of the episode. * The song that plays at the end is "Traveling Woman" by Bat for Lashes. Promotional Photos Image:Promo-belonging-01.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-02.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-03.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-04.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-05.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-06.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-07.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-08.jpg Image:Promo-belonging-09.jpg Notes & References External links *"Belonging" at the Official Dollhouse Wiki *"Belonging" at tv.com *"Belonging" at IMDb 17